London Midland passengers can enjoy more seats and greater comfort now the train company has taken delivery of the last of its £190 million fleet of new, 100mph, air-conditioned electric trains.
The final Desiro Class 350/2 train was delivered to London Midland this week from rolling stock manufacturer Siemens.
London Midland passengers can now take advantage of the company’s fleet of 37 new air-conditioned, four carriage Class 350/2s, the first of which went into service last year, only 13 months after the contract was signed with the final train in the fleet being delivered now, eight months later.
The new fleet is part of a £300 million investment London Midland is making in trains, stations and improving services for passengers.
The new trains mainly operate on the London Midland services between London Euston Milton Keynes, Northampton and Birmingham, as well as London Euston to Crewe, via Nuneaton and Stafford.
The introduction of the new Desiro Class 350/2s, which began in December 2008, is already having a positive effect.
In the latest National Passenger Survey results, released in June, London Midland passengers reported increases in satisfaction levels of up to 25% for factors related to the train environment such as toilets and interior and exterior cleanliness of the train. These increases are due to the new trains replacing many of the older style electric trains London Midland inherited at the start of the franchise.
Mac Mackintosh, Engineering Director at London Midland, said: “The delivery of the last of the 37-strong fleet of new Siemens Desiro 350/2 trains is a real milestone and a big part of the investments we are making to improve things for passengers.
“The new trains are fully accessible, air conditioned, modern and better for the environment. Now the full fleet has been delivered, more and more passengers will be travelling on the state of the art Desiro trains, instead of the older trains on these routes.”
Mr Mackintosh said passengers on the company’s services into London and to the North West were already benefitting.
“Desiro trains are comfortable and extremely popular with passengers as demonstrated by the rise in satisfaction since their introduction.”
The Class 350/2s will work alongside the existing Class 350/1 fleet, also based at Northampton, which has been in service since 2006.
The trains offer increased seating capacity, efficient air-conditioning, increased safety and security features and some of the trains are fitted with extra equipment such as automatic passenger counter devices to monitor the number of passengers travelling and special energy meters to record energy used and regenerated (through the trains’ regenerative braking system).
Siemens Rolling Stock Managing Director Steve Scrimshaw added: “I’m delighted to be able to officially ‘handover’ the final train in London Midland’s order.
“Siemens is renowned for its ability to provide high quality rolling stock solutions. I have to praise our manufacturing and supply chain teams in both the UK and Europe for their commitment and dedication in working together to conclude yet another delivery.”
The London Midland trains are maintained at Siemens’ purpose-built traincare facility in Kings Heath, Northampton.
